Missing The Point On Online Video

from the solving-the-wrong-problem dept

The fine folks over at McKinsey are trying to solve the "problem of video piracy" with a few simple suggestions: TV and movie studios should team up with broadband providers to provide content, broadband companies should "crack down" on big file traders and computer companies should lock down their machines. There are a ton of reasons why these ideas make no sense, but the real issue here is that McKinsey is solving the wrong "problem". The problem isn't video "piracy", but an industry that is trying to hold onto a business model that doesn't work in the world today. Building up artificial barriers to enforce that business model doesn't solve anything. It just angers consumers who now realize what the potential is out there. The solutions discussed in the article are a recipe to try to turn the internet into a broadcast medium, rather than a true collaborative mechanism for distributing content. What made the internet great wasn't big content produced by big companies - but the fact that any individual could produce and exchange content themselves. That's what makes the internet valuable, and that's what should continue to make the internet valuable. McKinsey's suggestions may make big content providers happy, but it kills off the real reason the internet has been successful - and why it should remain successful going forward. The internet is not designed to be a broadcast medium. Trying to make it into one only harms what made the internet worthwhile in the first place.